What is POPI

In simple terms, the purpose of the POPI Act is to ensure that all South African institutions conduct themselves in a responsible manner when collecting, processing, storing and disposing another entity’s personal information by holding them accountable should they abuse or compromise your personal information in any way. The POPI legislation demands that your personal information be treated as “precious goods”.

Examples of “personal information” for an individual could include:

Identity and/or passport number

Date of birth and age

Phone number/s (including mobile phone number)

Email address/es

Online/Instant messaging identifiers

Physical address

Gender, Race and Ethnic origin

Photos, voice recordings, video footage (also CCTV), biometric data

Marital/Relationship status and Family relations

Criminal record

Private correspondence

Religious or philosophical beliefs including personal and political opinions

POPI promotes transparency with regard to what information is collected and how it is to be disposed of. Openness increases customer trust in the organisation.

Compliance demands identifying Personal Information and taking reasonable measures to protect the data. This will minimise the risk of data breaches and the associated public relations and legal ramifications for the organisation.

Non-compliance with the Act could expose the Responsible Party to a penalty of a fine and / or imprisonment of up to 12 months. In certain cases, the penalty for non-compliance could be a fine and / or imprisonment of up 10 years.

Does POPI really apply to my company?

Here are cases where POPI does not apply. Exclusions include:

Purely household or personal activity

Sufficiently de-identified information

Some state functions including criminal prosecutions, national security etc.

Journalism under a code of ethics

Judiciary functions etc.

When will POPI affect me?

We anticipate that the POPI commencement date will be early in 2017, but no later than 24 May 2017. Bear in mind that there is a one-year grace period that could be used by the Information Regulator to begin the work. We currently anticipate that you will have to comply with POPI from early in 2018 as the Information Regulator will start enforcing POPI by then.

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